Paper drinking-cup.



F. A. WEEKS.

PAPER DRINKING 0UP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1910.

Patented Sept.

'JIIIIIIIIIII I'll ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK A. WEEKS, 0F PLATNFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD KIMPTON COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF FEW YORK.

PAPER DRINKING-CUP.

inoaaic.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK A. VVEnKs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper Drinking-Cups, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in paper drinking cups, and it consists in the novel features and structure hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claim. The object of my invention is to produce an efiicient paper drinking cup of such inexpensive nature that it may be used once and ing on its bottom,

thrown away, or repeatedly used if desired, and which may lie fiat when not in use so that it may be carried in the pocket or a pocket-book and readily opened outwardly when it is to be used.

Among the principal purposes of the present invention isto produce a paper drinking cup of the character described which will be less liable to leakage than those heretofore known and also (which is one of the more essential features of the,invention) enabled to .stand on its bottom while holding or receiving a liquid, and also when empty. It is intended that the paper drinking cup of my invention may lie flat or in a collapsed condition while in stock in'stores or when carried by persons desiring to use the same, and that when the cup is placed in use it will be capable of standwhich isa feature which has not heretofore been possessed by flexible-paper drinking cups so far'as I am aware. Paper drinking cups have heretofore been constructed, but those cups of flexible nature intended to be folded into small compass, have not been capable of standing on their bottom, but on the contrary it has been necessary, to hold them in the hand during their use. The cup of my invention may be filled with a liquid and allowed to stand on a table or the like an indefinite len h of time or solong as any portion of t e liquid may re'rnainunconsumed and within the cup.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 1s a perspective view of a paper drinking cup constructed in accordance with and embodying my invention, the cup being shown in its expanded condition ready for use; Fig. 2 is a top view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, partly broken away, through the cup while in its collapsed or flat condition, the section being on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 4; Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the cup while in its folded or collapsed condition, the section being taken on the dotted line 44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a vertical central section, on the dotted line 55 of Fig. 6, of the cup when in its expanded condition ready for use, and Fig. 6 is a corresponding section through the cup on the dotted line -66 of Fig. 5.

I construct the cup shown in the drawings from two pieces of paper of waterproof character, one of said pieces being a blank cut to form when folded over and creased at its middle line 10 the two opposite sides 11, 12 of the cup, and the other piece a strip 13 transversely encompassing the lower portion of the cup and at its upper edges secured thereto by paste,-

waterproof paste being preferably employed. The piece or strip 13 may be of ornamental character if desired or scalloped along its upper edges. The sides 11, 12 substantially correspond with each other, except that the side 11 at its perpendicular edges is formed with .lips 14 which lap upon and are pasted to the corresponding edges of the side 14, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The sides 11, 12 are integral at their middle fold-line or crease 10 and hence when'the edge-lips 14 of the side 11 are pasted to the edges of the side 12 a flat receptacle is formed which may be bulged or opened outwardly above its lower end to hold a liquid and. constitute a drinking cup. In. Figs. 1' and 2 I illustrate the sides 11, 12 as ulged outwardly from each other, while in Fig. 4 the cup is shown in its initial flat or collapsed condition with the sides 11, 12 parallel with and close to each other.

One objection to the' cup so far as the same has been hereinbefore described is that the sharp wedge-like bottom represented by the crease-line or fold 10 will not permit the cup to stand upon a table or other support, with the result that the cup when containlng liquid must be manually held until all the liquid has been consumed or the cup other- I wise emptied, and this objection I remedy by the provisionof the lower encompassing opened outwardly, said band 13 when ex-f panded outwardly aflording a support for the cup, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, enabling it to stand upon a table or the like. The

1 sides 11, 12 when expanded or bulged outables the bottom of the cup wardly naturally take the form of an ellipse,

as shown in Fig. 2, and converge downwardly toward the 'fold-line or crease 10, and to eflect the proper expansion of the band 13 and -the'setting of the same in its expanded condition, so as to support the cup, I initially give the fold-line or crease 10 a slight crease or indentation at and transversely of its center and exert a light pressure, bet-ween the finger and thumb, against the opposite edgesof the lower part of the cup or the band 13, this pressure having the efi'ect of expanding the opposite sides of the band 13 outwardly, to afford a proper support, and of causing the fold 10 to yield upwardly at its middle on a line transversely of its length and at right angles to the sides of the cup, as at 15in Figs. 2, 5 and 6, thereby forming a horizontalbrace crossing the long axis of the ellipse defined by the cupand serving to maintain the band 13 in its expanded condition, said band being thereby enabled to remain in condition to act as asupport for the cup whether the latter be full or empty. The fact that the band 13 is secured at its upper edge only enroper at the transverse middle of the foldine or crease 10 to yield upwardly, as at 15, the sides of the lower end of the cup proper being by such upwardyielding across the transverse center of the fold-line 10, drawn from their original contact with the sides of the band 13, as shown in Fig. 5, the perpendicular end edges ,of the bottom of the cup still remaining, however, in close relation to said band. The initial transverse crease or indentation I give to the middle of the foldline or crease 10. is very slight and not necopposite edges of the lower part of the cup or to the band 13, the crease 10 will properly buckle upwardly, as at 15, and leave the opposite sides of the band expanded, as shown in Fig. 5, to support the cup. After the cup has been opened out or expanded, it H may be readily restored to its collapsed condition by slight pressure, between the thumb anid fingers, applied to its opposite curved s1 es.

The band 13 not only serves to support the cup in standing position but it also covers over the lower ends of the edge joints or seams of the sides 11, 12 and protects the same from being broken open by as to'form an endless band, which is held in position on the cup by being pasted alongits upper edges thereto.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A flexible paper drinking cu comprising two sides of substantially equa proportions to lie flat and parallel with each other in the collapsed condition of the cup and connected along a fold line at their lower edges,

and a band transversely encompassing the lower end of the cup and secured thereto, said band in the open condition of the cup afi'ording a supporting base therefor and the connecting fold-line of said sides being adapted to be pressed upwardly at its transverse center to create a transverse brace (15) maintaining said band in its expanded condition; substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 19th-day of September A. D. 1910.

FRANK A. WEEKS.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR MARION, Cine. 0. GiLL. 

